Gaganyaan Mission: ISRO To Send Three Indians To Space For Seven Days; Programme To Cost Less Than Rs 10,000 Crore
India is likely to send three persons for seven days into space in its first man-made space flight Gaganyaan. The spacecraft will be placed in a low earth orbit of 300-400 km.
New Delhi, August 28: India is likely to send three people for seven days into space in its first man-made space flight Gaganyaan. The spacecraft will be placed in a low earth orbit of 300-400 km. Speaking at a press conference in New Delhi, Minister of State for Atomic Energy and Space, Jitendra Singh said that GSLV Mk III, the three-stage heavy-lift launch vehicle, would be used to launch Gaganyaan. It is used as it has necessary payload capability.
Singh also said that two un-manned Gaganyaan mission would be undertaken before sending humans into space. The union minister also said that the programme is expected to be completed before 2022 with the first un-manned flight happening within 30 months. The programme is expected to cost less than Rs 10,000 crore, said Singh.
On August 15, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his address to the nation from the ramparts of Red Fort, announced the launch of the Indian space mission Gaganyaan in 2022, to mark the 75th Year of Independence. If successful, India would be the fourth nation to achieve the feat after the US, Russia and China. Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman K Sivan told reporters, “The experiments have been going on since 2004, but it was not on our priority list.”
ISRO has developed critical technologies like re-entry mission capability, crew escape system, crew module configuration, thermal protection system, a sub-system of life and support system required and the prototype of a space suit for sending humans to space. In March this year, in a joint vision statement for space cooperation by India and France, the space agencies of the two countries agreed to develop technologies for human exploration of the universe.
(With agency inputs)
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 28, 2018 05:16 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).